Prayer for a Friend
Good Morning Friends,
There are hundreds of prayers in the Bible. Some are short. Some are long. Some are prayed aloud on knees bended and others standing up without an audible word as in the case of Nehemiah before he answers the king. Some are uttered as cries for help and others as praises with thanksgiving. Some are prayers for children. Some are prayers for mercy and others for healing. Abraham prayed. Jacob prayed at Peniel and softened his brother’s heart. Moses prayed and had the countenance to prove it.
Samson prayed and brought the house down. David prayed for forgiveness and probably sang them as well. Elijah prayed for rain. Daniel prayed at the risk of his life. Jesus prayed as recorded in John 17 one of the longest prayers in the Bible and it was for us. Stephen prayed even as he was being stoned and the heavens open up. Paul and Silas prayed and sang hymns in jail and the result was an earthquake of conversion. You probably have heard the 23rd Psalm sung and the Lord’s Prayer in song. Sometimes hymns and prayers merge when the object become the subject in a Prayer for a Friend.
Scripture:
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
Colossians 3:16 (KJV)
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.
Acts 16:25 (NIV)
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
Ephesians 3.16-21 (NIV)
Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
Ephesians 5:19 (KJV)
Message: Friends, if you want to make an impression in this world pray long prayers in private and short prayers in public and when you sing hymns do so to God in love. St. Augustine is often quoted as saying that, “He who sings, prays twice.” But what I am now convinced he said was something closer to “He who sings well, prays twice.” And I would even add to that only if the song is directed to God in love. I have sung enough to know the difference. Friends, my experience is that when the praise is of God in love, something happens to both the singer and the song. The essentials of true prayer are lifted up. Adoration, Confession, Restitution, Thanksgiving, Forgiveness, Unity, Faith, Petition and Submission seem to be part of the way it all comes together in love. I would think that you know the difference. Friends, there can be sermons in songs for exhortation and that is important but what I think we all are searching for is something closer to a song that we might share with a brother… a song like this from Casting Crowns, a Prayer for a Friend.
Lord I lift my friend to You.
I’ve done all that I know to do.
I lift my friend, to You.
Complicated circumstances
have clouded his view.
Lord I lift my friend up to You.
I fear that I won’t have the words
that he needs to hear.
I pray for Your wisdom , oh God.
And a heart that’s sincere.
And Lord I lift my friend up
to You.
Lord I lift my friend to You.
My best friend in the
world, I know he means much
more to You.
I want so much to help him, but
this is something he has to do.
Lord I lift my friend up to You.
There’s a way that seems so right to him.
But You know where that leads.
He’s becoming a puppet of the world.
Too blind to see the strings.
And Lord I lift my friend up to You.
Lord I lift my friend to You.
I’ve done all that I know to do.
I lift my friend, to You.
I’ve done all that I know to do.
I lift my friend, to You.
Complicated circumstances
have clouded his view.
Lord I lift my friend up to You.
I fear that I won’t have the words
that he needs to hear.
I pray for Your wisdom , oh God.
And a heart that’s sincere.
And Lord I lift my friend up
to You.
Lord I lift my friend to You.
My best friend in the
world, I know he means much
more to You.
I want so much to help him, but
this is something he has to do.
Lord I lift my friend up to You.
There’s a way that seems so right to him.
But You know where that leads.
He’s becoming a puppet of the world.
Too blind to see the strings.
And Lord I lift my friend up to You.
Lord I lift my friend to You.
I’ve done all that I know to do.
I lift my friend, to You.
Pray for power in our praise of you God. Pray we realize the more excellent way of love. Pray for spiritual growth. Pray our singing brings peace and joy to the heart. Pray our singing is worthy of being called prayer. Pray the music we make glorifies God.
Daily Devotionals 